Heroic Rottweilers

Solveig Fredrickson, Author

Much maligned, the Rottweiler refutes criticism through heroism.

Helping Paws?

Cooper was a year old when he entered the life of Karla Clinch of the Evansville, Indiana area.

“At first, I didn’t really even like him,” Clinch said. “He hadn’t won my heart.”

So, when Clinch came home from work one day to find Cooper stolen, she looked for him, but convinced herself that his absence really wasn’t going to bother her.  Little did she know, Cooper had weaseled his way into her heart, unbidden.

“I lost 40 lbs, and I was grieving over this dog being gone.” Clinch said.  “One morning, I went out on my back porch to have my morning cup of coffee, and there he laid.”

Cooper now had a loving home and life went on.  One day, however, while rushing home to get a notebook she’d forgotten for class, Clinch suffered a head on collision.  During tests to determine if any injuries had been sustained in the accident, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

“I’d gotten to the point where I was in a wheelchair,” Clinch said.  “Then I started thinking, ‘I’ve got a dog here who can pick up something as small as a dime and hand it to me.  He can pick up anything as big as a decent sized telephone directory.  He can pull open a door if it has a hope on it.’”

Before Clinch was finished, Cooper had mastered about 150 commands that ease Clinch’s life on a daily basis.  Because of the nature of multiple sclerosis, which prevents muscles from always working as they’re designed, Clinch now spends about 50 percent of her time in a wheelchair.

“Life is very interesting with Cooper,” 34 yr old Clinch said.  “I’m what I call bacoomba sized.  When I walk into McDonald’s, I’m automatically this fat lady with a Rottweiler.  People don’t make the service dog connection.  The only thing worse you could have would be to have a pit bull.”

Cooper, who has a bad hip and is prone to seizures, accompanies Clinch everywhere she goes, including class.  A student at the University of Southern Indiana.  Clinch is having a hard time seeing beyond Cooper.  “I haven’t found a replacement for him yet, and I probably won’t until the day he dies,” She said.

Clinch’s reluctance to replace Cooper is synonymous to the feelings Rottweiler aficionados from around the world experience when it comes to their noble breed.  As they know, and often tell the skeptics, Cooper is only one example of the many great and heroic Rottweilers who are changing the image of the Rottweiler, one remarkable accomplishment at a time.